Honourable senators, I am pleased to rise today to speak in support of Bill C-81, An Act to ensure a barrier-free Canada.

Bill C-81 with its 74 amendments was unanimously passed in the House of Commons on November 27, 2018.

Before I get into describing the key elements of this important bill, I want to first share a fable with all of you, a fable that I used back in the 1980s when I was training rural planners in Indonesia on the topic of gender inclusion. I couldn’t help but think of this famous Aesop’s fable again when I was studying and pondering the importance of this bill to ensure a barrier-free Canada.

As the fable goes, a fox invited a crane to supper and provided him with some soup, which was poured out into a broad, flat, stone dish. The fox had no problem eating up the soup from the flat vessel, but the soup fell out of the long bill of the crane at every mouthful. The crane’s vexation at not being able to eat afforded the fox much amusement. The crane, in his turn, asked the fox to sup with him and set before her a carafe with a long, narrow mouth. In this case, the crane could easily insert his neck and enjoy its contents at his leisure. The fox was unable to even taste it.

The fable can, at one level, be seen as a simple illustration of the golden rule as found in almost every ethical tradition: Treat others as one would like to be treated. Taken at another level, however, I believe this fable actually gets at the very essence of what this legislation is designed to address. It gets at what happens when differing needs, abilities and realities are not taken into account. When only the fox’s or the crane’s realities are considered, what results is exclusion. When there are only flat or tall, narrow dishes, someone is left out.

For an inclusive feast, the feast we all want to see enjoyed by everyone in Canada, we will need vessels of varying shapes and proportions. We will need different kinds of tables and a variety of places to sit, ones identified by those coming to the proverbial table.

Every citizen and resident has a place at Canada’s table, and we are working to improve that here in the Senate.

As Senator Munson stated in his eloquent speech introducing Bill C-81:

Senators, no one group should have to fight to enjoy the full rights of citizenship. We need to send the message that persons with disabilities are valued civic, social and economic contributors to Canadian society, because they are. With the proposed accessible Canada act, persons with disabilities will not be systematically denied opportunities for inclusion anymore.

Bill C-81 came about after years and years of efforts by individuals, families and organizations such as the 179 members of the Federal Accessibility Legislation Alliance, who fought against systems that excluded Canadians with disabilities of all types and whose slogan, “My Canada includes me,” reminds us of what is at the essence of this bill. Of course, the bill also took a lot of attentive listening, studying and creative development by our capable colleagues in government.

Minister Qualtrough, in her speech introducing Bill C-81 in the house, reminded us by saying:

The history of how we have treated Canadians with disabilities is not a proud one. It is a history of institutionalization, of sterilization, of social isolation. We addressed our fears of what we did not understand and of difference by creating systems that, by design, took children away from their families, that took power away from our citizens, that perpetuated a medical model of disability, that saw persons with disabilities as objects of charity and passive recipients of welfare. We treated our citizens as if they were broken, when in fact it was our systems and policies that were broken.

When she was five years old, Minister Qualtrough should have had to leave her family to go to a school for the blind in another province. Fortunately, her parents, like many other parents of their generation, insisted that she be given an education in her own community.

At the Coady International Institute, where I worked for many years, we taught community and organizational leaders from across Canada and around the world. Fundamental to the institute’s work is the asset-based, citizen-led development approach. In that course, the life example, influence and work of Judith Snow are often discussed. Judith Snow suffered from spinal muscular atrophy and thrived as a writer, actor, artist, educator and internationally renowned champion for inclusion.

Ms. Snow, who passed away in her home in Toronto in 2015 at the age of 65, defied all doctors’ predictions by living 35 years longer than expected. I believe that it is only fitting to share some of Judith Snow’s reflections as we engage in our debate on and study of this historically significant bill.

She said:

I have lived on the margins & fought hard to become a participating citizen.

I am a thinker & a dreamer.

I have a reputation as a visionary.

Let’s look at what fosters community capable of including people in all the diversity of their gifts & dreams.

There is in the world today a vibrant new culture. It is young and rough, but its birth has been true and with proper nurturance its life and growth promise to be dramatic. It is the culture of inclusion.

The culture of inclusion begins in the affirmation that all human beings are gifted.

Our purpose is not to help people. Our purpose is to build a different kind of neighbourhood for us all.

John McKnight of the ABCD Institute at DePaul University; Jack Pearpoint, former president of Frontier College; and John O’Brien, inclusion researcher and advocate, all wrote of Ms. Snow:

Judith reflected deeply on her experience of how community grows strong, about power in society and about liberating the contributions of people who are typically pushed to the margins of society because they require accommodation and assistance in order to participate.

This act to ensure a barrier-free Canada is consistent with our commitments to constantly improve our human rights system and strong anti-discrimination laws. Disability is a protected ground under these laws and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Canada is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and a signatory to Agenda 2030, related to which five sustainable development goals specifically address people with disabilities.

As you heard me say in my first speech in May, I strongly believe that inclusion is both an end and a means to achieving the sustainable development goals.